1954 in literature
The year 1954 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *Jack Kerouac reads Dwight Goddard's A Buddhist Bible, which will influence him greatly. *John Updike graduates from Harvard with a thesis on George Herbert. *Lawrence Quincy Mumford becomes Librarian of Congress. New books *Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim *Poul Anderson - The Broken Sword *Isaac Asimov - The Caves of Steel *Hamilton Basso - The View from Pompey's Head *Simone de Beauvoir - The Mandarins *Pierre Boulle - The Bridge on the River Kwai (Le pont de la rivière Kwai) *Taylor Caldwell - Never Victorious, Never Defeated *John Dickson Carr **''The Third Bullet and Other Stories'' **''The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes'' (with Adrian Conan Doyle) *Agatha Christie - Destination Unknown *Robertson Davies - Leaven of Malice *Daphne du Maurier - Mary Anne *Ian Fleming - Live and Let Die *William Golding - Lord of the Flies *Hergé - Explorers on the Moon *Mac Hyman - No Time for Sergeants *Frances Parkinson Keyes - The Royal Box *C. S. Lewis - The Horse and His Boy *Astrid Lindgren - Mio, my Mio *Kamala Markandaya - Nectar in a Sieve *Richard Matheson - I Am Legend *John Metcalfe - The Feasting Dead *James A. Michener - Sayonara *Alberto Moravia - Il disprezzo (A Ghost at Noon) *Iris Murdoch - Under the Net *J. B. Priestley - The Magicians *Marcel Proust - Jean Sauteuil (posthumously published) *Ellery Queen - The Glass Village *Pauline Réage - Histoire d'O (Story of O) *Mordecai Richler - The Acrobats *Anya Seton - Katherine *Dr. Seuss - Horton Hears a Who! *John Steinbeck - Sweet Thursday *Irving Stone - Love Is Eternal *Rex Stout **''Three Men Out'' **''The Black Mountain'' *Edward Streeter - Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation *Morton Thompson - Not as a Stranger *J. R. R. Tolkien **''The Lord of the Rings'' : The Fellowship of the Ring **''The Lord of the Rings'' : The Two Towers *Amos Tutuola - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts *Frank Yerby - Benton's Row New drama * Brendan Behan - The Quare Fellow * Saunders Lewis - Siwan * Terence Rattigan - Separate Tables * Dylan Thomas - Under Milk Wood * Thornton Wilder - The Matchmaker * Dharamvir Bharati - Andha Yug (The Blind Age) Poetry Non-fiction *L. Sprague de Camp - Lost Continents *Albert Einstein - Ideas and Opinions *Aldous Huxley - The Doors of Perception *Arthur Koestler - The Invisible Writing: The Second Volume Of An Autobiography, 1932-40 *Mervyn Peake - Figures of Speech Births *January 29 - Oprah Winfrey, actress, talk show host, producer, publisher *June 28 - A. A. Gill, journalist and critic *'November' - Christopher Pike, children's author * Esther Delisle, Quebec author & historian Deaths *January 1 - Duff Cooper (1st Viscount Norwich), poet, biographer and politician *January 25 - M. N. Roy, philosopher and politician *March 28 - Francis Brett Young, novelist and poet *April 8 **Juan Álvarez, historian **Winnifred Eaton, Canadian author *April 19 - Russell Davenport, journalist and publisher *May 3 - Earnest Hooton, popular writer on anthropology *August 3 - Colette, French novelist *September 19 - Miles Franklin, novelist *September 29 - W. J. Gruffydd, editor of Y Llenor (Literature) *December 6 - Lucien Tesnière, grammarian Awards * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Ronald Welch, Knight Crusader * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: C. P. Snow, The New Men and The Masters * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Keith Feiling, Warren Hastings * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Joseph Krumgold, ...And Now Miguel * Nobel Prize for Literature: Ernest Miller Hemingway * Premio Nadal: Francisco Alcántara, La muerte sienta bien a Villalobos * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: John Patrick, The Teahouse of the August Moon * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: no award given * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Theodore Roethke: TheWaking * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Ralph Hodgson External links * Category:Years in literature Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year